


Wings

by cloudcraft



Series: from dusk to dawn [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bad Flirting, Canon Compliant, Coming Out, First Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 14:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6333520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcraft/pseuds/cloudcraft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It hit him like a killer serve to the face. No dramatic build up. No action-movie timing. No jump cuts or freeze frames of his stunned, dumb-ass expression. [...] Just the sudden, jarring certainty that he really, <i>really</i> liked Asahi.</p><p>He wanted to run over and tackle Asahi to the ground, sweat and all. He wanted to parade Asahi around town, show everybody just how amazing he was. He wanted Asahi to always smile confidently and happily until his face hurt. Last time he checked, that was what it meant to like someone."</p><p>Nishinoya realizes he's got it bad for their ace spiker. Now it's time to do something about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again to [ProphetLake](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ProphetLake/pseuds/ProphetLake) and [bananashiro](http://archiveofourown.org/users/bananashiro/pseuds/bananashiro) for editing and feedback!
> 
> It'll make more sense if you read [Hands](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6033652) first, but it's not strictly necessary! While that story takes place before Asahi quits the team, this one takes place after he joins again. Enjoy!

「電光石火」lightning speed 

It hit him like a killer serve to the face. No dramatic build up. No action-movie timing. No jump cuts or freeze frames of his stunned, dumb-ass expression. 

Of all places, of course he'd realize it during practice.

When he was on the court, Nishinoya's senses went into overdrive. The whole world outside the boundary lines went quiet. Within them, he picked up every movement, every sound. If he was really in the zone, the other players seemed to move in slow motion. Their bodies created afterimages in the air, subdividing heartbeats. That's how it was that day.

They were working on spiking and receiving drills. Nishinoya's skin prickled with energy, an impish grin dancing on his face. He was in great form and he knew it. He shouted cheerful provocations as their team's offensive lineup approached the net one by one. Shouyou, Kageyama, Ryu, Daichi—he collected spike after spike as they came thundering down. 

Then finally, Asahi. Their ace. 

Nishinoya crouched and waited, toes curling in his shoes.

Asahi was in good form that day too. Nishinoya could see it most clearly in his eyes. Usually Asahi was jumpy and nervous when he glanced around, like he thought somebody was watching him. But when he got really into his play, this hard edge sharpened his expression, almost predatory. Real intense. Proper ace material. 

The rest just fell into place, the natural order of things. His footwork was clean, his movements fluid. Nishinoya sensed a teeth-rattling spike coming.

Asahi's brow was set in concentration, eyes on the ball as the toss sailed into his range. 

Nishinoya watched the dip of Asahi's shoulders in the running approach, the flex of his calves when he crouched, the arching vertical extension at the peak of his jump. He snapped his arm like a whip with the full power of his body's momentum. The sheer amount of power and control in those muscles sent jolts down Nishinoya's spine.

While Asahi was still airborne, their eyes met. As he started to fall back towards the ground again, the intense and focused expression on his face softened, a grin breaking out on his face. Confidence and happiness radiated from that smile. Nishinoya loved seeing him like that.

That was exactly when it hit. No warnings, no bells or whistles. Just the sudden, jarring certainty that he really, _really_ liked Asahi. "Liked," as in the way that Nishinoya liked Kiyoko. 

Well, maybe not exactly how he liked Kiyoko. 

He wanted to run over and tackle Asahi to the ground, sweat and all. He wanted to parade Asahi around town, show everybody just how amazing he was. He wanted Asahi to always smile confidently and happily until his face hurt. Last time he checked, that was what it meant to like someone.

Also, he had possibly been checking out Asahi's body for the past year and a half without realizing it.

_‘Shit.’_

To his credit, he still received the spike flawlessly.

 

「天真爛漫」naivete, simplicity

After practice, he bought a popsicle, ate it in two bites. Said goodbye to Ryu and Chikara where their paths split. Walked along the gate by the river, chewing on the end of his popsicle stick.

Okay, so he liked Asahi. 

That made sense.

Asahi was tall, nice, funny, caring, and really damn good at volleyball. Except it didn't make a damn bit of sense because Asahi was a _dude_ and Nishinoya was very into women.

He set the popsicle stick between his front teeth and shifted his jaw so that the stick flipped up and slapped him on the tip of his nose.

So what, then. 

He wasn't about to pretend that he didn't like Asahi just because he was a dude. Ever since Asahi came back to the team, they'd been getting even closer than before. Nishinoya admired him more and more every day. If anybody said that it was wrong to like Asahi, he'd punch them square in the jaw.

Nishinoya frowned and removed the popsicle stick from his mouth.

He broke into a run for the rest of the way home.

 

「行雲流水」floating with the tide

Taking a shower helped his mind go blank for a while. It felt good not to think.

Flopping on his bed, still warm from the shower, his thoughts went right back to Asahi. Granted, he thought about Asahi a lot. He just never stopped to think about _why_ he thought about Asahi a lot.

Was there an easy way to tell if somebody was gay? Asahi never talked about liking girls. There was that. He also never talked about liking _anyone_. If he did like guys, though, he wouldn't go around talking about it.

Nishinoya flipped over and dove across his bed. He then reached in his bag and, shoving aside his homework (unimportant), fished out his phone. Good, it had just enough battery left. He rolled onto his back again and opened the search engine.

His thumbs hovered over the keyboard.

What... was he even supposed to type.

He hesitantly punched in: _how to tell if you're |_

Backspace. _how to tell if your friend is |_

Furious backspacing. _how do you |_

"AUGH NEVER MIND." Nishinoya sat up and threw the phone so hard at his bed that it rebounded off his pillow and bounced onto the floor. That was fine. His mom bought him an extra sturdy case for a reason He slumped over halfheartedly to retrieve it.

The charger was on his desk, beside his bed, next to his daily calendar. (Also from his mom.) Every day had a different four-character idiom on it with the meaning and English translation. She probably thought this would improve his English scores, a valiant effort on her part.

Nishinoya wriggled the charger plug into his phone, then tore yesterday's page off the top of the day calendar. Beneath it was:

[ Floating with the tide. ]  
Being unconfined, not clinging to anything.

He stared at it. 

His first thought: _Mm, sounds like Nekoma's receive style. We've really gotta start putting more work into our defense if we want to beat them at nationals. Especially after I said all that stuff to their libero._

His second thought: _Oh. Huh._

Maybe it was just fine. He didn’t _have_ to worry about it. "It" being Asahi. Or rather, "it" being how he felt about Asahi. It wasn't like anything was going to change at practice and they needed to focus their energy on preparing for the spring tournament.

Right. The team came first. Weird feelings bullshit came later.

Nishinoya rolled over for the last time and burrowed under his covers to get some damn sleep.

 

「依怙贔屓」partiality

Practice felt good. Ryu started off with energy to spare and Nishinoya soaked it in gladly. He pulled off a handful of libero tosses with the third years, but there were even more that failed to connect. If he wanted to be the best damn libero that he could be, that wasn't going to be enough.

When they finished up, Nishinoya jogged over to the sidelines and grabbed two water bottles out of habit. He turned around and there Asahi was.

"Nice tosses today," Asahi smiled. His breathing was still ragged from practice.

"Needs work." Nishinoya handed Asahi a water bottle automatically. Their fingers brushed and Nishinoya felt a nervous rush from his fingertips up his arm. 

Had this happened before? He gave Asahi his water bottle every day—how had he not noticed? Damn, but Asahi's hands were huge.

"Nishinoya? Something wrong?"

_‘I like you I like you I like you.’_

"Your jump height was shorter than usual today," Nishinoya said instead. In the safety of his mind, he let out an enraged scream.

"Ah, you noticed? Nothing gets past you, huh." Asahi laughed sheepishly. "I actually did something weird to my ankle this morning so I was trying to take it easy."

"During PE?"

"During passing period, walking down the stairs." Asahi smiled in embarrassment.

"Seriously? Come on, Asahi-san, pull yourself together."

"I'll make sure to look after it so it's better tomorrow." Asahi bowed his head in contrition. That little motion drove Nishinoya insane. Asahi needed to work on holding his head high. Today, Nishinoya noticed something else amidst his irritation: that little motion brought Asahi's face just a tiny bit closer to his own.

Was it even fair? For him to be like this? For _Asahi_ to be like this?

"Sorry for making you worry," Asahi added with a half-smile. Nishinoya had to fight back smiling in response. Typical of Asahi to apologize good-naturedly even after being told off.

Though, come to think of it, Asahi didn't respond that way when Daichi or Suga scolded him. If he didn't protest, he'd mope instead.

Did that make Nishinoya different?

Did he possibly—already—

"Uh, Nishinoya...?" 

Asahi's voice snapped Nishinoya back out of his head. He was looking down at Nishinoya's hands.

His hands were wet. Nishinoya glanced down. He was gripping his bottle hard enough for water to spurt out the top, run down the sides, and drip on the floor. Because he didn't know what else to do, he laughed.

"Whoa, how did that happen?" 

Okay, it sounded better in his head.

Asahi blinked slowly. Man, would it kill him to look a little convinced? Nishinoya continued laughing awkwardly and shook off his hands.

"Anyways I'm gonna go refill this one so I'll see you later Asahi-san bye!"

By the time he finished his sentence, he was already out the gymnasium door. He jogged over to the outdoor sinks, cranked the tap. Water started to flow and Nishinoya began to uncap the water bottle. Then he thought better of it and dunked his entire head under the faucet. It was going to ruin his hair but he didn't give a crap.

So much for not letting weird feelings bullshit interfere with practice.

 

「意気投合」a kindred spirit

The days went by. Nishinoya only made a fool of himself at practice every now and then. This was probably as good as it was going to get. Everybody was too caught up in their own stuff to notice if he was being weird on purpose or on accident. Besides, it wasn't like anybody else would know why.

On the way back from practice one day, Nishinoya and Ryu loitered by the shop for a while after everybody had left. The weather wasn't bad and if they waited until closing, the last few nikuman went on sale for fifty yen a pop. Ryu was working on his second. As good a time as any, Nishinoya figured.

"Hey, Ryu?"

"Mmf?" Ryu looked up from the nikuman shoved halfway in his face. He swallowed. "What's up."

"You remember that time none of the first years would ‘fess up to who broke your Monster Hunter strap?"

Ryu's expression darkened. The doughy, discounted nikuman collapsed beneath his clenched fingers. That answered that.

"It was actually me," Nishinoya said. "I stepped on it and put it over by the first years' lockers so you wouldn't notice."

"DUDE! ARE YOU SERIOUS—"

"Also I think I like guys."

Ryu stopped with his arms still in the air, the sudden explosion of his anger contained in the space of a breath. And then it deflated. He lowered his arms slowly, his open mouth falling shut. Nishinoya felt something twist in his gut. But Ryu still hadn't said anything. It wasn't the worst, not yet.

"...What?" Ryu's voice was quiet.

"Yeah."

"...Dude."

"Yeah..."

There was a stretch of silence. Nishinoya readied himself for his backup excuse, that it was all a joke and he just wanted to see how Ryu would react, when Ryu cleared his throat and turned to face him.

"But you still like girls?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nishinoya said for a third time. "I'm pretty sure I do."

"Who's the most beautiful human being in the entire world?" Ryu folded his arms across his chest. With no hesitation, Nishinoya replied,

"Shimizu Kiyoko."

"That's my boy." Ryu clenched his fist and Nishinoya bumped it with his own. Automatic reaction. 

Ryu went on, "But you liking dudes too, that's uh. That's all good, man."

Nishinoya looked up and raised a brow.

"Yeah, dude." Ryu took another bite of his nikuman and continued while chewing, "So like. My sister is bi too. That's what they call it when you like both, apparently."

"Saeko-neesan? For real?"

"I kind of walked in on her and her friend once." Ryu shuddered at the memory. "She explained the whole thing and made me swear not to tell anyone. But it's probably okay if it's you. She likes you."

Nishinoya nodded open-mouthed, taking a second to process all that. Then with a tiny smirk, he asked,

"Was the other girl hot?"

"Dude, don't be gross, it's my sister."

"I'm just saying!" Nishinoya threw his hands up defensively.

" _Anyway_." Ryu gestured as he literally steered the conversation away from that topic. "I don't know a whole lot about this stuff, but if you want to ask her about it, I bet she'd be down. If you're okay with getting advice from a crazy person."

"Yeah, ask if I can get her Line ID. It's less weird than calling your house."

"For sure." Ryu nodded absently. He took the last bite of his nikuman. "So you wanna come over and play games or something?"

"Nah, Mom texted and said she brought home croquettes. But thanks."

"Shit, croquettes. Jealous."

"They're just store-bought, man."

Once Ryu finished his nikuman, they left the shop. At the usual crossroads, they parted ways with the usual wave. Nishinoya wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. But it didn't feel like the world was ending. That was a start.

 

「大胆不敵」fearlessness

Nishinoya had a fantastic idea. The timing couldn't have been better. The weather had been bad over the past few days and his teammates' faces got more sour with every rainy morning practice. So in the afternoon, he waited until it was time for self-directed practice. He asked Ryu to lob serves over the net for him.

On the other side of the court, he settled in a crouch and waited for the ball. All warmed up from practice, his body felt light, airy. His limbs ached but in the good way. The kind of ache where he'd used up all his calories for the day and was practically running on empty. Nishinoya was masochistically addicted to that feeling.

Ryu sent a decent serve over the net, opposite side of the court as Nishinoya. Perfect.

Nishinoya fixed the ball's trajectory in his mind's eye and threw himself at the floor.

"ROLLING..."

Alright, so he had practiced a dive roll receive plenty of times. He'd perfected Rolling Thunder. He knew how to lead with his shoulders, how to throw out his feet so he'd land upright instead of tumbling on his ass. _But_ , what if he led with the roll into the receive instead of the receive into the roll?

It was a little counter-intuitive, but not that different from a flying receive. From there, it was just a matter of recovering from the roll to receive the ball. That was supposed to be the hard part.

Except Nishinoya had never actually tried to dive roll into a receive while yelling at the top of his lungs. As it turned out, just that little thing was enough to throw off the timing.

So in his mind's eye, he would pop up on his feet and receive the ball. It would go perfectly to the setter's position as he crowed out a triumphant: "THUNDER, REVERSE!!" Because he yelled, everybody would be watching. He'd planned his pose. It was going to look incredible. Everybody would laugh, spirits would be lifted, the day would be saved.

Instead his hands hit the floor all wrong. His arms collapsed underneath him. Rather than rolling diagonal across his back, his left side slammed hard into the gym floor. Somewhere far ahead, the ball hit the floor.

_‘Fuck.’_

His head spun, his ears rang. As he lifted his head from the floor to shake off the daze, all he could remember was that day's calendar page.

[ Fearlessness. ]

"Ughh..."

Sneakers squeaking against the floor all around him, way-too-tall people crowding close. Yup, everybody had certainly been watching.

"Nishinoya, you okay? That was a nasty fall."

"More like a divebomb onto his face. Since when was Rolling Thunder such a hazard?"

Asahi and Daichi, towering above him.

Well, that had backfired fantastically.

"Doing great," Nishinoya said, pushing himself up to his feet. Winced a bit because yeah, he had definitely done something weird to his shoulder. "Just messed up my roll. No need for concern."

"You hit your head on the way down," Daichi said, putting a hand on his hip. "You should go to the nurse to get it checked out."

Asahi nodded, his eyebrows scrunched together in concern. Nishinoya frowned. He was having none of that.

"I can finish practice," Nishinoya said.

"Team practice is already over. You can stand to use your own practice time to fix your mistakes."

Nishinoya winced again, not because of his shoulder. Should've known better than to argue with the captain when he was already on edge. Even Asahi flinched a little at Daichi's tone.

"Right. Sorry, Daichi-san."

"We'll get one of the second years to go with you. Tanaka—"

His brain started whirring, the world started moving in slow motion. Maybe it was because of how worried Asahi had looked when Nishinoya opened his eyes. (Was it normal to be that worried? Abnormal? Nishinoya could go back and forth for days. He had, in fact.) Maybe he really had hit his head funny. Maybe he was just an idiot and let his instincts do the thinking for him.

"Asahi-san," Nishinoya blurted out, interrupting Daichi. The two third years looked down at him, equally confused.

He'd already done it, no turning back. Fearlessness, Nishinoya reminded himself.

"Would it be alright if Asahi-san went with me?"

Daichi and Asahi exchanged a perplexed glance. Asahi shrugged.

"I don't mind," he offered. The captain sighed and turned to head back to practice.

"Do what you want."

 

「五里霧中」at a total loss

In theory, it was perfect. 

Catching Asahi away from the other third years was like picking a flea out of an anthill. Already difficult enough without having to explain why he was hovering obsessively around the anthill. Thanks to his blunder, Nishinoya had the chance to talk to him without the rest of the team around.

He and Asahi walked side-by-side to the main school building, towards the nurse's office. The sounds of other clubs at work drifted across the grounds. The baseball and soccer fields were empty due to the weather, but the brass band was playing loud enough to cut through the pitter-patter of rain on the walkway roof.

Nishinoya peeked up at Asahi out of the corner of his eye.

This was the point when he was supposed to say something. It occurred to him he had no damn clue what to say.

'Just ask if he likes anyone! Or better yet, just tell him! You confess to Kiyoko-san like every day. Just man up and say it. Simple words. No room for confusion. Right.'

"So I think Yamaguchi's serve is starting to show some promise." 

Nishinoya nearly screamed after the words left his mouth. Was he capable of talking about anything besides volleyball?

"Yeah, I noticed too," Asahi said. "It must be tough, having classmates like Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Hinata. It's amazing that he's able to work so hard to catch up to them."

"Seems normal to me," Nishinoya shrugged. "If you have amazing teammates, it makes you want to do your best too."

"That's because you're..." Asahi trailed off. He laughed softly. "I mean, maybe I'm just projecting my own attitude onto Yamaguchi. I wish I were able to view things as optimistically as you."

"You just gotta stop beating yourself up for every little thing. I've got your back and I'm always going to have it, okay?"

Asahi stopped in his tracks. Nishinoya froze a step beyond Asahi as soon as he realized what he'd said. Did he really just say that? Was it too direct? Or wasn't that his goal all along? Heart beating out of his chest, he turned slowly to meet Asahi's gaze.

Asahi stared down at him quizzically, pointing at the door to the nurse's office right beside them.

"We're here?" he said. Like Nishinoya had said nothing weird at all.

"Yes. Right."

Nishinoya shucked his shoes and entered the infirmary. Suddenly he was eager to get his head checked.

 

「試行錯誤」trial and error

Ryu was finally at the final boss fight of Metal Gear Solid 2 when Nishinoya got a hold of Saeko. Or rather, she got a hold of him. She rapped on Ryu's bedroom door and stuck her head in without waiting for permission. Nishinoya looked up at the sound, Ryu scowled and kept his eyes on the screen.

“Sis, you can't just barge in like that!” he barked. Saeko ignored him and flashed a bright smile at Nishinoya.

"Yu! Got a second? I'm gonna have a smoke outside, you should join me. Not to smoke, just to talk."

Hard to say no to that.

About an hour later he appeared in Ryu's bedroom doorway again. Ryu had paused the game before the final cutscenes and was reading manga on his bed.

"So?" Ryu asked. He tossed his manga to the side. "You got it all figured out?"

"Shit, I feel like I'm even more confused than before," Nishinoya admitted. "Since when did your sister know so many long words?"

"Yeah I don't need to know those, give me the highlights reel."

Honestly, Nishinoya didn't even know if he could do that. All he knew was that being a bi girl in college seemed _very different_ from being a bi dude in high school. Though there was one thing Saeko said, roughly two cigarettes in, that stuck with him.

"How can you tell?" he'd asked.

Saeko stubbed out the end of her cigarette and sighed.

"Some people have a sense for it but I'm not one of them. So all I can say is trial and error, my friend. Trial and error."

She seemed disappointed that she didn't have any better advice, but the brevity came as a relief. At last, something that made sense.

Nishinoya flopped down on the end of the bed next to Ryu and retrieved the video game controller.

"Basically being bi gives me superpowers and I can't tell you about it for your own safety. I'm gonna unpause this."

Ryu raised a brow, but didn't push the point. He rolled onto his stomach to face the screen.

"Dude, you wouldn't believe how many times I died before I finally beat him."

"After watching you bumble through the whole game, I think I have a feeling."

 

「捲土重来」try again even harder

He was going to have to drop some serious hints if he wanted any meaningful results. The efforts thus far had been... insufficient. Asahi was an open book when it came to his insecurities, so why was it so damn hard to read what he was thinking about Nishinoya?

Nishinoya was playing by all the rules. Staying in close proximity, offering lots of favors, complimenting with enthusiasm. If the girls in his class were to be believed, these were the steps to making somebody realize that you liked them.

Maybe it didn't help that he'd been doing these things since first year. But he'd given the man a damn back massage and _even then_ , there was nothing that helped him understand how Asahi felt. He needed something more obvious, more direct.

The idea, like all great things, came to him during practice.

Once afternoon practice was over, Nishinoya grabbed hold of Asahi and dragged him out of the gymnasium. On his way out the door, he grabbed a roll of clear tape from Kiyoko's managerial kit. Asahi offered bewildered and half-hearted protests, but didn't exert any real force to resist. Nishinoya couldn't help but grin as he tugged their giant ace up the stairs to the club room.

Once they were inside, Nishinoya marched over to the far wall.

"Nishinoya, what is this all about?" Asahi asked. The door shut softly behind him.

"Ryu was showing me this the other day," Nishinoya said. He slapped his hand on the lone clubroom poster, a magazine spread of six swimsuit-clad idols on the beach. Each girl, except one, was marked with a piece of clear tape bearing various club members' names. Sugawara, Tanaka, Ennoshita, Narita, Kinoshita, and Daichi's "types," all accounted for.

"You know, I was wondering what this was," Asahi said, moving closer to peer at the messy handwriting. "Does Suga actually like older women...?"

"They put it up while we were gone," Nishinoya said. He produced the roll of tape and grabbed a pen from the shelf. "Team stuff, right? So we gotta contribute."

"Daichi likes big boobs..? Did Daichi write this himself or was it the second years?"

"Which one's your type, Asahi-san?" Nishinoya tore off a strip of tape with his teeth and handed it over. The character for Asahi's name was just barely legible on the clear surface.

"Uh." Asahi accepted the tape on the tip of his finger. Stared warily at the poster. "I'm not really into idols."

"It's hypothetical." Nishinoya scribbled his name on another piece of tape and tore it off.

“Besides, the first years don’t have their names on here either,” Asahi added, worrying the tape between his fingers. He folded it in half and didn't do a good job of making it look accidental. “Where are you going to put yours?”

Nishinoya took a step closer to Asahi and looked directly up at him. Took a deep breath. Then reached up and stuck his tape directly on Asahi’s forehead.

For one terrifyingly still moment, neither of them moved. Until Asahi made a face and let out a whining groan.

“Aww that’s gross, Nishinoya, I’m still all sweaty from practice.” Asahi reached up and picked the tape off his forehead. Sure enough, it slid away with no resistance. He pouted and turned the tape over in his hands, squinting at the smudged characters of Nishinoya’s name. “I can’t even read this?”

 _‘Are you fucking serious??’_ Nishinoya fought the urge to punch Asahi directly in the gut. Was Asahi always this dense? Did he just assume that Nishinoya was joking? Nishinoya opened his mouth to just say it, once and for all.

“...My bad, Asahi-san. You wanna practice some spike receives before the gym closes?”

If there was a suffering worse than death, Nishinoya knew it. 

This was fine, he told himself, totally fine. At any rate, they were wasting valuable practice time.

On the bright side, the spike receives were fun.

 

「以心伝心」wordless understanding

Sometimes, when Nishinoya was really in the zone, the ball and the other players seemed to move in slow motion. The last few moments of their Datekou rematch at the Inter-High tournament were exactly like that. Each sound, each muscle movement. Nishinoya absorbed them all, burned them into his memory.

Most of all, the last spike of the match. A last-ditch receive, rebounding off of the side of Nishinoya's foot. The roar of the crowd as the ball went up. And of course, Asahi, his immediate response to get back in position. The grit of his teeth. The furrow of his brow as he traced the movement of the ball. His voice, resounding clear and confident across the court. The whole team yelled their hearts out.

Despite his exhaustion, Asahi approached the net at full power and speed. Nishinoya swore he could see the sweat streaking Asahi's brow. Then he launched himself in the air, his back gracefully arched and rippling with strength. He moved through the air at just the right timing, just the right angle. All the lights in the gymnasium seemed to shine directly on him.

Nishinoya watched plenty of volleyball. He knew the beauty of the sport inside-out. As great as his team was, they were still only in high school. Their plays were decent, not perfect. Maybe not even that good. They had miles to go before they could compete with the pros.

But the sublime moments of the game weren't just because of perfect technique or form. It was about knowing exactly what brought that person there. The memories of how hard they'd practiced to earn their place on the court. Nishinoya knew the weight of the tethers that tried to bind Asahi to the ground, to keep him held back when he belonged in the air. He knew how hard Asahi had worked to tear himself free. Nishinoya had grappled with it head-on himself.

Seeing Asahi's back from below, watching him soar above the rest of them. It sent shivers down to his bones. Nishinoya watched, breath in his throat, as Asahi hit the last spike of the game. It was a decent play, but also a perfect play.

Then Asahi was yelling, they were all yelling. Nishinoya's pulse was beating out of control and he repeated to himself, I'm not wrong, I was never wrong, he's exactly who I knew he was all along, he did it he did it he did it.

Amid the din of the crowd and their teammates' screaming, Asahi glanced back and met Nishinoya's eyes. He was practically glowing.

Just like the first time during practice, Nishinoya was gripped by an undeniable certainty of his feelings in that moment. Except this time, he felt certain of what he saw on Asahi's face too. He couldn't explain how and he probably couldn't even put it into words. But that was fine. There would be time for words later.

For the time being, he surrendered himself to the energy of their team, their victory, and their ace. The team would advance, Asahi was confident and happy, and there was nothing else that mattered in the world.

 

「落花流水」returning one's affections

"You wanted to talk to me, Nishinoya?"

It was long past sundown and the rest of the team had already gone home. The only light was from the streetlights beyond the school gates. It barely illuminated where they stood beside the gymnasium. They couldn't stay long. In the morning they'd have their third match of the tournament and they absolutely needed to grind Seijoh into the dirt.

But first, Nishinoya needed to say his piece.

His fingers twitched at his sides. Asahi stood with his hand on his athletic bag, waiting for Nishinoya to speak. Nishinoya opened and closed his mouth several times. Like a mailbox flap in a storm. It was infuriating—he knew exactly what he'd wanted to say.

It just. Wasn't coming out.

Asahi worried his lip. Offered a placating smile.

"Maybe we should get going? We can talk before we get on the bus tomorrow, if that's alright—"

Okay, that was fucking _enough_.

"Asahi-san, I really like you."

Nishinoya kept his eyes fixed on Asahi's expression. When it only tensed for a moment, then relaxed immediately, Nishinoya added,

"But you knew that already."

"Well, yeah." Asahi's voice got much softer. He smiled sheepishly. "I had a feeling."

"Since when?" Nishinoya leaned forward.

"Since, um. Last year?"

" _And you didn't say anything??_ " 

More importantly, how had Asahi known before he did? Nishinoya took a full step forward, causing Asahi to step back.

"What was I supposed to say?" Asahi held up his hands in defense. It didn't stop Nishinoya from getting very close to him.

"...Okay, fine. So what do you say now?"

It was dark. Hard to see clearly. Nishinoya couldn't tell for sure but he was pretty sure Asahi was blushing. The tensing of his shoulders and elbows gave it away.

"I, uh... Thank you?" Asahi managed.

" _Thank you??_ " Nishinoya echoed in disbelief.

"And also." Asahi took a steadying breath. "We should. Maybe hang out. After Inter-High. If that's okay with you. We don't really see each other outside of practice, so..."

Asahi's voice got smaller and smaller with each sentence until he was practically whispering. If Nishinoya weren't so close, he wouldn't have caught all of it. Thanks to the proximity, he took in every word.

"We should definitely do that," Nishinoya said. It was a struggle to breathe. "After Inter-High."

"Right."

The silence of the school at nighttime did nothing to fill the quiet between them. Nishinoya hefted his bag on his shoulder and turned toward the gates.

"You played really well today. Best I've ever seen."

Asahi fell into step beside him, leaving the silence behind.

"You were really good too. That foot receive was incredible. I wish I'd had a better view of it."

"Ahh, it was nothing."

The gravel crunched quietly beneath their feet. Asahi’s footfalls were heavy in comparison to Nishinoya’s. They lived in opposite directions, so they’d be parting as soon as they got to the bottom of the hill. Nishinoya wondered if there was something appropriate to do here, something he was supposed to do or say.

They came to the split in the road and turned to face one another in the dim light. Beneath the streetlights, Nishinoya could more clearly see the blush that hadn’t quite faded from Asahi’s cheeks. Asahi smiled, awkward but sincere.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” Nishinoya said. “Good night.”

“Good night, Nishinoya.”

They turned and walked their separate ways. With every step he took away from the school, Nishinoya expected his chest to feel heavy. Instead, he felt light. He felt like there was an invisible force pulling him up from the back, lifting his toes off the ground.

Tomorrow. He was going to see Asahi tomorrow. They were going to play the biggest match of their high school careers tomorrow.

And then once they won, they were going to hang out, just him and Asahi.

Nishinoya picked up his pace, walking quickly at first, then jogging. He shouldn’t have had the energy but something drove him forward, demanding that his heart pump his blood in double time. Then he was running, grinning like a maniac. Sprinting along the river embankment as if he moved fast enough, he could take off into the night and sail straight through to the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Nishinoya is such a nerd for four-character idioms, I couldn't help but include them as part of his narration. That said, Japanese is not my first language. If any of them are used inappropriately, I would be happy to make corrections. Thank you for reading!
> 
> ETA 3/26/16: Edited some instances where "Tanaka" should have been "Ryu." My bad!


End file.
